This study evaluates the effectiveness of virtual reality (VR) as a novel tool for mood induction, specifically for inducing joy, and examines the role of interactivity and prior mood. We conducted an experiment using a 2 × 2 factorial design with 124 participants who were randomly assigned to either a neutral or negative prior mood condition, and an interactive or noninteractive joy induction condition. Prior mood was experimentally manipulated using a VR scenario that simulated a terror attack at a train station (negative mood condition) compared with a control condition in which no incidents occurred at the train station (neutral mood condition). Subsequently, participants entered a virtual park scenario that either allowed for playful interaction with objects in the park (interactive condition) or not (noninteractive condition). We found that interactive VR experiences lead to lower levels of negative affect compared with a noninteractive experience irrespective of participants' prior mood, but playful interaction in VR only increased joy when participants were in a neutral (not negative) prior mood. We suggest interactivity as a design principle for effective negative mood reduction, but further research is required on how to successfully transform a prior negative mood into joy.

中文翻译：

---

基于虚拟现实的快乐诱导：交互性和先验情绪的作用。

这项研究评估了虚拟现实 (VR) 作为一种新的情绪诱导工具的有效性，特别是用于诱导快乐，并检查了交互性和先前情绪的作用。我们使用 2 × 2 析因设计对 124 名参与者进行了一项实验，他们被随机分配到中性或消极的先验情绪条件，以及互动或非互动的快乐诱导条件。先前的情绪是使用 VR 场景进行实验性操纵的，该场景模拟了在火车站发生的恐怖袭击（消极情绪条件），与在火车站没有发生任何事件的控制条件（中性情绪条件）相比。随后，参与者进入一个虚拟公园场景，该场景允许与公园中的物体进行有趣的互动（互动条件）或不允许（非互动条件）。我们发现，无论参与者之前的情绪如何，与非交互式体验相比，交互式 VR 体验都会导致较低水平的负面影响，但当参与者处于中性（而非消极）之前的情绪时，VR 中有趣的互动只会增加快乐。我们建议将交互性作为有效减少负面情绪的设计原则，但需要进一步研究如何成功地将先前的负面情绪转化为快乐。